Device for use in the treatment of rayon



Nov. 24,1942. A. E. SUNDERLAND-ETAL ZJ-"ZS DEVICE FOR USE IN THE TRETMENT OF .RAYON Filed April 20, 1940 Patented Nov. 24, 1942 DEVICE FOR USE IN THE 4'IBJ'IATMEN'I 0F RAYON Aurea E. Sunderland and Arthur L. Jackson, Asheville, N. C., assignors to American Enka Corporation, Enka, N. C., a corporation of Dela- Ware Application April zo, 19in, serial Np. 330,190 s claims. (cl. sii- 13) This invention relates to the treatment of Iyarn, thread or the like in its passage between a thread storage device and a collecting device' and more vparticularly to treatmentswherein succeeding portions of a yarn, thread .or the'like are passed in contact with a surface which will modify its characteristics. x While yarn or the like may be subjected to the modifying influence of'many varying types of materials, liquid or solid, involving such operations as abrading, waxing, lubricating, etc., by

passage across. a suitably prepared'surface, it will be recognized that regardless of the type of treatment to be effected it is highly desirable that the yarn or the like be modified substantially uniformly throughout its lengths.

An appreciation of typical difficulties which have been encountered in the treatment of yarns by passing the same across .a prepared surface may be had by a consideration of the problems encountered in the preparation of wound cones for use in the manufacture of knitted fabrics such as underwear, tubing and hosiery. Since such cones are customarily used by the manufacturers of knitted goods in the form in which they are received from the yarn producers, it isencum bent upon the latter to furnish the cones in a condition suitable for insertion directly into knitting rmachinery ,without further alteration. It has been found that yarns for use in such machinery must be suitably lubricated in order vto 'render them sufficiently flexible and pliable to be fed through knitting needles without danger .and feel.

In lubricating yarns for use in knitting ma-v chinery and the like, it is now the common practice to apply the lubricant during that winding operation in which cones are prepared 'for shipment. Usually the yarn is passed from a supply package tangentially across a cylindrical metal roller which rotates partiallysubmerged in a suitable lubricant bath, generally formed of an bath as to pick up a lm of lubricant of sufiicient thickness to permit the imparting of avdefinite amount thereof to the yarn passing thereover, the amount in any instance, of course, being dependent upon the size or denier of the yarn being wound, as well as the use to which the yarn is to be put. The roller is driven at a constant speed and turns in a direction contrary to orin the direction of the yarn travel,l thus continuously presenting a uniformly coated surface to the yarn.

As has been pointed out above, it -is highly desirable not only that a suitable amount of lubricant be imparted to a given length of yarn but also` that such amount be applied uniformly for ythe entire length of the yarn. 'I'his is difiicult of accomplishment by the employment of con-I ventional machinery because of the fact that the speed of yarn take-up steadily increases as the driven cone increases in diameter while the roller is driven at 'a constant speed so that the time of contact of the yarn with the roller proportionally decreases as the Winding operation progresses. An attempt hasbeen made to obviate this difficulty by the use of a device for progressively guiding the yarn across the roller at an increasing angle as the cone diameter increases,

vthus compensating for loss of contact .time by the provision of a longer and wider path of contact:

Another method of providing for increased dehas been noted that the amount of lubricant ac- -cepted by the yarn during that period when the cone is being started and consequently its takeup is near the minimum is generally higher than the desired amount and that at this stage tions of yarn lacksuniformity. By experiment,

` it was determined that the initial non-uniformity and excess lubrication of the yarn results from vibration thereof in its path over this lubricating roller. The vibration causes the surface conoil, to a driven collecting bobbin or the like. The roller is so arranged with respect to the lubricant 5 5 lubricant vaccepted by the yarn under these contact between the yarn and roller to vary considerably with the result that the amount of ditions is in excess of that desired and less uniformly distributed. It was further discovered that the extent and duration of the vibration is subject to considerable variation when yarns of differing deniers or other physical characteristics are being wound. `On the other hand, later, dur. ing the winding operation, when the angular travel of the thread causes the thread to press against the side of the front thread guide the vibration is stopped and satisfactory lubrication can be effected. This time, of course, will depend upon the characteristics of the yarn, the winding speed and other variables.

Inasmuch as it was found that satisfactory lubrication is possible during the latter part of the winding operation as described above, it was thought desirable to place a tensioning device in the path of the yarn adjacent the lubricant roller and to provide means for causing this tensioning device to have a braking action during the initial winding of the cone while the braking action could be automatically released whenever the peripheral speed of the cone became suflcient to produce satisfactory tensioning of the yarn. Devices of this character were found to be disadvantageous in that constant adjustment of the tension releasing mechanism is necessary and the initial installations are quite costly.

It is an object of this invention to overcome all of the difficulties heretofore encountered in the treatment of yarn by the passage by the same across a surface which will modify the char,- acteristics thereof and to produce a surface treated yarn which is modified uniformly throughout its length.

By the employment of this invention, it is contemplated that yarn treated by contact with a modifying surface during a winding operation will be automatically maintained in proper relation to such surface regardless of the speed of travel of the yarn.

It is further contemplated by the use of this inventionto damp the vibrations of yarn or the like being drawn between a storage device and a treating surface in such a way that increased tensioning of the yarn Ais avoided, while uniform treatment of succeeding portions thereof is made possible. Uneven and excessive tensions incident to drag between the yarn and treating surface are entirely eliminated while mechanical tensioning of the yarn during the initial winding stages with its concomitant diiculties of adjustment is invention will be apparent from a consideration of the following .detailed description ofa preferred embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the `annexed drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of a portion of a winding machine showing a preferred form of the vibration damping device of the present invention in damping position;

Figure 2 is a v'iew in section taken along the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a detail view in side elevation of the preferred form of damping device shown in Figures 1 and 2;

Figure-tisaneadviewofthedampingdevice;

Figure 5 is a top plan view of the damping device; and

Figure 6 is a bottom plan view of the damping device.

dressing such as a lubricating oil or emulsionA and are to be wound into the form of cones or cops. Inasmuch as the machine is adapted to simultaneously treat and wind a plurality of yarns by identical mechanism, the description will be confined for convenience to the mechanism acting upon a single yarn. It is understood, however, that any number of such mechanisms may be included in the machine and may be operated simultaneously.

Thread I0, taken from its source, is passed through a stationary pigtail guide II, through damping device I2, tangentially across a roller I3, through an additional pigtail guide I4 and a tensioning device I5, of well known form, to a traverse mechanism I6 through which it is drawn by cone or cop I'I mountedfor rotation on a shaft I8 driven at constant speed from a source of power not shown.

Roller I3, across which thread IIl passes in its travel between the source and cop I1, is mounted for rotation with shaft I9 which is driven from a source of power not shown. Shaft I9 is so journaled that roller I3 will rotate partially below the edge of longitudinally extending tank or trough 20 which is partially filled with a suitable lubricating oil or emulsion 2l. By way of convenience, the front Wall of trough 20 constitutes a support for pigtail guide II and damping device I2 Guide I4 is attached to asleeve 22 which is axiallymovable along a shaft 23, this movement controlling the path of yarn I0 across roller I3.'

The movement of sleeve 22 is effected automatically so that the length and width of the path of the yarn in contact with the roller is increased as the speed of take-up increases due to increase ineffective diameter of the cop I1. There are several excellent known mechanisms for effecting thisautomatic adjustment and since suchadjustment is not a part of this invention further v reference thereto is ,deemed unnecessary.

i tail in Figures 3 to 6, inclusive.

Traverse mechanism I6 is of conventional form and includes a guide member for causing the yarn to be wound on the cop in a series of helices. The guide member is mounted on-a cone surface contacting member 24 Which in turn is arranged for pivotal movement about shaft 25 in response to variations inthe effective diameter of the cop. One of the many well known means for maintaining member 24 in contact with the body of wound yarn is employed.

The damping device I2 which is interposed in the path of the yarn I0 between pigtail guide II and the lubricating roller I3 is illustrated in de- It consists of f two sections 26 and 21 fastened together by a bolt 28 and a nut 29. Depending from the section 2l is a threaded shank 30 which is screwed into the front of trough 20 as is illustrated in Figure 2. Section 21 is also provided with an arcuate guide piece 3| which extends downwardly 1 toward the yarn source below pigtail guide II. The inner surface of sections 2i and 21 are designed to present a series of interdigitating corruzations I2 which denne a tortuous path of multiple contact points situated on each side of the thread travel. The corrugated surfaces of sections 2.6 and 2l are so arranged that when the two sections are assembled the width of the path defined between said surfaces at any point will be constant. In other words, the corrugated surfaces are parallel as can be clearly seen in Figure 4. As will be seen by consulting Figure 1, the thread is passed under the arcuate guide piece 3l and between the corrugations 32 of sections 2 and 2l, across the roller i3 to the pigtail guide i4. It 'should be borne in mind that device i2 is not a tensioning member and consequently the thread passing therethrough need have only enough contact therewith to damp vibrations. For this reason, section Z1 is provided with a shoulder 33 against which section 26 bears when held in position by bolt 28. lShoulder 33 is of such a height that the corrugations 32 on sections 25 and 21 are spaced apart about 1 mm. when the said sections are held in operative position. To render the width of the tortuous passageway adjustable, a washer 3d may interpose between sections 26 and 2l on the bolt 2d. By inserting washers of various thicknesses the width .of the corrugated passageway may be varied a desired. It is of importance, however, that sections 2@ and 2l be far enough apart so that no material tensioning of the yarn passing therethrough will result, regardless of the denier or other physical characteristics thereof.

Shoulder 33a and guide piece 3| coact to keep yarn i@ within the confines of the spaced apart corrugations against radial movement in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the device l2. Thus, the vibrations of yarn il) prior to the action of damping-device i2 thereon cannot, because of shoulder 33a and guide piece 3l, cause the yarn to move out from the path be tween sections 2t and 2l.

When the device is to be put in operation, it is threaded up by passing yarn from the storage device through guide il, under arcuate guide piece 3l, between members 2G and 21, tangentially across roller I3, through pigtail guide it, tensioning device l5 and traverse mechanism i6, to the cop or cone il to which the end is attached. Cop ll is then driven through a shaft i8 and the winding operation is commenced. When cop il is drawing yarn l@ from its source through the various guides, shaft i9 and roller I3 are caused to rotate in a'direction counterto or in the direction of the path of travel of the yarn.l Thus, lubricant 2i is picked up by the roller and imparted 4to the yarn at the point of 'tangential contact. Because of the damping effect of device l2, the yarn will not vibrate between damping device l2 and roller I3 at any time during the winding operation and the coating of the yarn will be quite uniform.

By experiment it was found that the following oil percentages are yielded by a thread of 150 denier being passed through a device of the type shown in Figure 1 employing movable sleeve 22 but using an ordinary pigtail guide in lieu f damping device l2:

On the other hand, when the damping device of this invention was used, all other conditions being the same as above set forth, the following oil percentages were yielded:

Status of winding Start Alter 11,000 yds..

After 22,000 yds After 33,000 yds winding` operation. By these experiments it is` clearly shown that device. I2 does not act as a tensioning device, for', if it did, the tension which it imparts to the thread, coupled with the increase in tension resulting from increased `p'eripheral speed of cone l1, would cause a decreased take-up of lubricant near the end of the Winding period. v f

I will be apparent that the width of the tortuous path defined between interdigitating members' 32 may be adjusted to accommodate yarns and-threads having different deniers or other physical characteristics.

The above description of a preferred embodiment of this invention is but for purposes of illustration and it is not intended that the scope of the invention be limited beyond the spirit of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a treating machine wherein yarn,lthread or the like is collected in package form, in combination, a source of yarn, means for contacting said yarn with a treating surface, and means presenting a fixed corrugated surface having multiple points of contact on each side of the path of travel of the yarn intermediate said source and treating surface, said corrugated surfaces being in parallel spaced relationship and the opposed multiple points of contact thereofy being spaced substantially l mm. apart.

2. In a treating machine wherein yarn, thread or the like is collected in package form, in combination, a source of yarn, means for contacting said yarn with a treating surface, means presenting a xed corrugated surface on each side of the path of travel of the yarn intermediate said source and said treating surface, said surfaces being parallel to present opposed multiple points of contact t0 the yarn passing therebetween, said opposed multiple points of contact being spaced at a distance greater than the' diameter of the yarn and means associated with said holding means for adjustably determining the distance between said surfaces.

3. In a treating machine wherein yarn, thread or the like is collected in package form, in combinatiorna source of yarn, thread or the like,

means for contacting said yarn with a treating surface andi; means presenting a xedcorrugated surface on each side of the path of travel of the yarn intermediate said source and said treating surface, said corrugated surfaces being in parallel spaced relationship and presenting opposed multiple, relativelysharp-edgedpoints of contact to the yarn passing therebetween, said op posed multiple points of contact being spaced substantially 1 mm. apart. y ALFRED E. SUNDERLAND.

ARTHUR L. JACKSON. 

